Cass Family Page

 George Washington Cass

George Washington Cass, engineer and railroad executive, was born on a farm near Dresden, Muskingum County, Ohio. His parents were George W. and Sophia Lord Cass, both of New England stock. In 1824 he was sent to Detroit to attend the Detroit Academy, making his home with his uncle, General Lewis Cass, who was then governor of Michigan Territory. Appointed from Ohio to the United States Military Academy in 1827, he graduated in 1832 with special honors in mathematics. He was then appointed brevet second lieutenant in the 7th Infantry, but never joined that regiment because of assignment to duty with the Topographical Engineers in the making of a survey of Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, from September 12 to December 5, 1832. He was next detailed for duty with the Corps of Engineers as assistant to the superintendent in charge of the construction of the Cumberland Road, east of the Ohio River, and remained on this duty until October 26, 1836, when he resigned his commission as first lieutenant in the 7th Infantry; but continued in the service of the Corps of Engineers as a civil engineer until 1840.

During his service (1837) he erected the first cast-iron tubular-arch bridge to be built in the United States. In 1840 he established a mercantile business in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, but soon began to turn his attention to the transportation enterprises growing out of the development of the railways. He became one of the engineers in charge of the improvement of the Monongahela River and when this work was suspended because of the inability of the State of Pennsylvania to finance it, he was instrumental in forming a private company which completed the work in 1844. He organized the first steamboat line on the Monongahela and the first fast stage lines across the mountains.

In 1849 he established the Adams Express Company from Baltimore to Pittsburgh and in 1854 effected the consolidation of all the company lines between Boston and St. Louis and south to Richmond. The next year he was elected president of the consolidated company, which position he held until 1857. On July 31, 1856, he was elected president and director of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which later consolidated with the Ohio & Indiana and Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad companies under the name of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad Company, of which he was elected the first president. He held this position, except for a short interval, until May 25, 1881, when, the road being leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, he resigned but continued one of the directors until his death. He was also president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company from 1872 to 1875.

Besides his business activities he was interested in politics. Twice, in 1863 and again in 1868, he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. In 1859 he was a member of the board of visitors to the United States Military Academy. He was an able business man although sometimes inclined to be too conservative. He possessed simple tastes and being ingenious in all his methods scorned pretense in others. His nature was generous and he gave very largely to his church and to charities.